In today’s modern industry, the use of technology has been resulting in enhancing the working procedure in the traditional operational methods. The outcome of this development is the exponential progress that we observe in the diverse sectors of the industry.
The use of evolving technology like AR, VR and robotics has been redefining the ways people work. It is undoubtedly a matter of fact that technology has been assisting humans to go beyond the limits and enable innovations in distinct sectors. This has been a perpetual innovation that is simplifying things so far, and it is a result of the spark of the innovators who developed new ways to enhance traditional working methods and blend them with reliability.
And as a result, essential sectors like disaster management are embracing these technologies to improve emergency management. This is where Susumu Matsuda excels as a tech-inspiring stalwart who, with his awe-inspiring skillset and abstracted vision of pursuing “safety and security” for humans, established a VR business on his own. He devised a RiMM (Risk Management Method) that enables the development of VR applications in a brief period, and in 2012, he developed the essential software of the RiMM development tool.
Today under his visionary leadership, Santoku Corporation Co., Ltd. stimulates the essential intuition of human beings by concretely showing the dangers that exist in various workplaces by combining VR technology and mechatronics technology.
Let’s indulge in Susumu’s odyssey of perpetual advancements.
Embracing the Path of Developments
Susumu Matsuda majored in mechanical engineering at university and was researching feedback control theory and operational maneuver control of automobiles. After that, he studied the architecture of CPU at an electronics manufacturer and participated in the machine control of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and the development of vision processing functions.
However, after witnessing the 11th of September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, he decided to move to his current company with the aim of pursuing “safety and security” for humans and the earth and launching a VR business on his own.
The initial purpose is to commercialize real-time interaction using VR. Real-time processing of 3D data requires high-performance graphics hardware. Therefore, initially, He focuses on the research field and provides services.
The need for the use of VR in the field of training emerged in 2007, and the development of accident response training simulators for the purpose of safe railway operation, security simulators for nuclear power plants, and decommissioning simulators for nuclear power plants. He continued to search for valid fields of VR application.
However, the development period and cost of the training simulator increase, and at the same time, the simple generation of derivative scenarios is required, which suffers from the development cost and mass production side. He specialized in accumulated safety and reassurance and aimed for efficient sensation generation through an intuitive operation.
He devised a RiMM (Risk Management Method) that enables the development of VR applications in a brief period, and in 2012 he developed the basic software of the RiMM development tool. According to market demand, Susumu aimed to develop a sensory reproduction that directly affects the psychological aspect through disaster experience. It was difficult to work on the psychological side with conventional VR methods alone.
With the Exuberance of Uniqueness
In 2014, he developed a robot control technology that regenerates the sensations felt by the body and repeats trial and error. He could see that the purpose can be achieved by combining VR with the newly developed tactile sense unit that can be felt by the body, the balance reproduction unit, and the skin sensation reproduction unit.
Continuing the evaluation revealed that there was a range in how people perceive things, and that the human sensitivity distribution was larger than expected. Using the prototype-evaluation-feedback-improvement cycle (Which he called Cyclone’s philosophy) devised in the development of the simulator, he focused on increasing the educational effect by expanding the scope of the application according to the characteristics of people and constructing and improving the scenario.
Expanding the Horizons
Prioritize the discovery of means to enhance safety and reassurance and focus on negative experiences. Scenarios used for experience (disaster database = 4 disasters: general, natural, labor, and human disasters) require many cases according to the recurrence situation and environment in order not to leave it as someone else’s problem. Therefore, Susumu has been enhancing the system continuously since 2014 and has commercialized more than two hundred disaster scenarios corresponding to thirty-three occupations while preparing a standard package that can be experienced. Furthermore, from 2021, the market required the development of new means to maintain safety and reassurance. He focused on the biological characteristics of humans; he studied human experience processes based on biological science.
He developed and provided six products that enhanced safety at each stage according to the stage of the experience process derived from research. Based on these results, he announced the RiMM Safety and Reassurance Cyclone Philosophy in 2022, which will further improve safety by continuously implementing a program to strengthen safety and reassurance according to the biological characteristics of humans.
Towards a Perpetual Betterment
The RiMM Safety Reassurance Cyclone Philosophy is prepared with six enhancement programs that match the experience process. A training simulator that allows you to learn how to operate with your body, a disaster reenactment video that memorizes case studies of many disasters in Brain, a VR experience of disasters that increases your sensitivity to danger, and a VR that uses 360-degree panoramic images to find dangerous areas to encourage awareness, disasters.
It is a training simulator that promotes judgment and action by experiencing the disaster and a DIG simulator that guides disaster response through role-playing image simulation. He provides a system that efficiently maintains safety and reassurance based on the RiMM Safety and Reassurance Cyclone Philosophy. Susumu realizes safety and reassurance by fusing multiple engineering technologies and biological sciences to create means to support safety and reassurance.
With the concept of the cyclone, he challenged innovative technology and repeat trial and error to create composite fusion products. RiMM uses sensory reproduction technology that uses engineering such as VR, robot control, and posture detection, neurology, brain chemistry, and psychology to derive the biological characteristics of humans and directly touches the heart through VR experiences. increase sensitivity.
Embracing the Enhancements
The emotional evaluation (subjective and objective) at the time of physical experience adjusts and experiences the stimulation of the five senses. Through this method, he aims to provide safety and reassurance education tailored to the characteristics of each person. Furthermore, these principles are based on the RiMM safety and reassurance cyclone philosophy derived from human characteristics.
He will continue to improve methods for enhancing resilience in the event of a disaster through training that links decision-making and initiative-taking actions while inducing motivation for safety and reassurance. While pursuing safety and reassurance, he also focuses on realizing a safe and reassurance society for humans and the earth.